At the EID meeting on Aug. 13, EID voted to reopen the comment period for the Upper Main Ditch project from Aug. 20-Spt. 18. This is the time to review, tell your friends and family who might have missed the last date in July.

“PREVIOUSLY SUBMITTED COMMENTS: All comments regarding the DEIR received during the original public review period (June 8, 2018 – July 23, 2018) will be considered and responded to in the Final Environmental Impact Report for the Project. Comments previously submitted during the original public review period do not need to be re-submitted during the additional 30-day public review period.” From the above press release by EID. MainDitch.EIR@eid.org (be sure the EIR is first and the eid is after the @) for submissions. More information can be read on the above link.

The next EID meeting to hold a discussion on the Upper Main Ditch will be at 9:00 am on Monday, August 27.

Thank you to all who continue to support our efforts and fight to save this critical fire fighting resource and important riparian habitat for animals, plants, and humans.

EID must now respond to the over 100 EIR comment submissions that were due on July 23rd. There is a meeting at EID on August 13, at 9:00 am, an agendized item is for the directors to discuss the possibility of opening up the comment period. Public comment is allowed at the beginning of each meeting if you’d like to speak.

Please keep reading/learning/walking the canal while we wait for the next EIR to come out. At that time, EID will need to address our comment concerns and rewrite the EIR for another public review. Promote the GoFundMe to your friends and family! Thank you to all who read/learned/wrote comments to the EIR. WE APPRECIATE YOUR SUPPORT!

DEIR comments are due July 23, 2018. PLEASE download this very important PDF designed to help you with your comments.

If you were at our meeting on 7/11 you likely picked up these flyers. If you were not able to be at our meeting, we wanted you to have this PDF. Save the Canal created it in order to educate the public about some of the major impacts of the Upper Main Ditch project. It can be used as a resource in order to formulate your comments that are due on July 23 by 5pm at EID. Any comments received by this time HAVE to be addressed in the final EIR document. The EIR document itself is over 1000 pages long.

Since your participation and your comments are SO important in this process, we wanted to simplify some of the major impacts.

You may prefer to access the entire DEIR document at: https://www.eid.org/about-us/project-updates/upper-main-ditch-piping-project/main-ditch-updates-and-documents

Many thanks for your continued support and for joining us on this journey.

Save the Canal is so incredibly grateful for the HEART and for the support this town and surrounding areas have shown us both last night and for the last 3 years. The room last night was filled with an energy and a buzz of community wanting to make a difference and wanting to make THE difference. AND. WE. ARE. Our hearts are full. Thank you for your inspiration.❤️

We all continue to work hard towards our end goal of “NO PROJECT”, alternative #4.

With the public comment period for the Draft EIR on the Upper Main Ditch Project coming to a close on July 23, at 5pm, the Save the Canal group is planning to focus on the public’s input to EID’s EIR at our upcoming town hall meeting. Comments that are to be included in the Final Public Hearing must be addressed by this deadline or they will be ignored. The primary focus at our July 11th meeting will be addressing specific issues we have pulled out of the Draft EIR in order to help the public with their comments and to help concerned citizens meet the deadline. That said, we WILL be allowing public comment, but it will be timed based on the number of folks wishing to make a comment.Our schedule for the evening is tentatively as follows and subject to change:

6:00-6:30– Open House/ displays will be set up to educate you on some of the issues and mitigations we believe EID is responsible for. We will be around the room to answer any questions you may have.6:30-6:55- Public Comment6:55-7:15– Save the Canal CEQA presentation

7:15-8:00– Comment writing/help/dialog and opportunity to raise issues that were not addressed.

If you’d like, you may leave your completed comments with us to deliver in person to EID.

EID is in process of collecting your comments about this project and the released Draft Environmental Impact Report. Please respond to EID! Click the link below to find a form, project updates, and the DEIR. The form can be printed and mailed or submitted online on or before July 23, at 5:00 pm.

Other important info upcoming: Fourth of July Parade and Save the Canal’s own real town hall meeting to be held at the PP-Camino Community Center on July 11 at 6:30 pm! From 6:00-6:30 we will have some displays set up to help educate on some of the very real issues and impacts of this proposed project.

Open house–open forum the new kind of meeting? No it has been around for awhile. “An open forum hearing without an audience session precludes debate on a proposal’s merits. Parties do not hear opposing views first-hand—nor do they have an opportunity to clarify stances or raise questions about opposing viewpoints. Some critics charge that agencies use open forum hearings as a “divide-and-conquer” strategy. If differing views are not heard, the public may be surprised to find a controversy exists. When people hear one another, they develop an improved understanding of a proposal and its implications for other people.”

The draft EIR (Environmental Impact Report) has been released by EID.
The public comment period lasts until July 23.
EID is holding a public comment meeting (ironically which does not allow for the public dialoging with each other) on June 27 at 6:00pm at the Pollock Pines-Camino Community Center on Sanders Dr.

July 11th will be Save the Canal’s own Town Hall Meeting at the Community Center. 6:30pm

We made over $760 at the rummage sale! Thank you to all who came by to purchase items to support our great cause!